Skate Park will remain closed until repairs can be completed

Minor repairs were all that were needed to fix most of the playground equipment in the city, but parts of the Skate Park remain closed until damaged surface areas can be repaired.

A fall audit report revealed minor problems with Beatrice playground equipment, but major repairs were found to be needed at the skateboard park.

In the audit report released this week, Beatrice Public Properties employees found no major infractions or unsafe manufacturing defects to any park playground equipment, other than the skateboard park, where two structures were barricaded from public use.

Last week, in response to a letter in the Beatrice Daily Sun, Beatrice Mayor Dennis Schuster called for an audit of all city park playground equipment and the skateboard park.

The Daily Sun published a letter on Oct. 14 regarding the current condition of playground equipment, especially the skate park. The letter, written by a new resident of Beatrice with an 8-year-old son who likes to skateboard, stated that playground equipment throughout the city was unsafe because of missing bolts and other problems and described the skate park as “dilapidated.”

Schuster said other than the skate park, the audit appeared to show minor infractions at the city parks. He was disappointed in the findings at the skate park.

“What happened with the skateboard park is inexcusable,” Schuster said.

Beatrice Public Properties Superintendent Mark Hyberger said the department has taken responsibility for not acting quicker on the skateboard park and is making the needed repairs.

Schuster said he would be meeting with City Administrator Jim Bauer and Hyberger about creating a guideline for more routine and in-depth inspections throughout the year.

“It just needs to be routine throughout the year,” Schuster said. “It's not hard to do inspections a number of times a year.”

It is important to maintain the city's properties and equipment for the safety of the public and the liability of the city, Schuster said.

Schuster said the laws concerning liability on city-owned playground equipment and skateboard parks protects the city to an extent as long as their facilities are safe to use.

Schuster said people have to be aware that participation in sports, such as skateboarding or playing football, can result in injuries and the city shouldn't be responsible as long as they keep the fields, parks and pool facilities safe for public use.

“As long as the facility is safe I don't believe a city or private landowner should be held responsible,” Schuster said.

Unlike the reaction from other cities in regards to a Nebraska Supreme Court ruling in late September regarding city liability, Schuster said he was not ready to shut down parks, pools or other recreational facilities for public use.

The safety audit reviewed the 10 parks maintained by the city. Those parks were Chautauqua Park, Hannibal Park, Riverside Park, Froberry Park, Astro Park, Roszell Park, Scott Street Ball Fields, Indian Creek Playground, Robertson Park and the Skate Park.

The safety audit forms are those used by the insurance company when they inspect the equipment twice a year, in the fall and spring, Hyberger said.

Based on the audit, city employees replaced five swing chains, tightened four bolts, replaced three swing seats and installed or replaced three bolts.

One of the more serious items found was a crack in the small tube slide at Chautauqua Park, which will be reassessed in the spring. City employees also removed the motorcycle spring toy at Astro Park. It will be replaced when a part is replaced. At Astro Park, a crack was also found in the Plexiglas dome on the space ship. City officials will look for a replacement dome, otherwise it will have to be removed.

At the Indian Creek Playground, located in the Indian Creek Mall, there were no deficiencies or repairs needed.

More sand was added to all of the outdoor playground areas in preparation for the winter months.

The audit also indicated that the play set across from the tabernacle in Chautauqua Park would be replaced in 2008 and the play set across from the double shelter in Riverside Park would be replaced in 2009.

In the audit, Hyberger said the repairs were minor infractions and were due to normal wear, usage vibrations or weather element impact.

Hyberger said a majority of the playground equipment the city owns is fairly new because in past years the council has replaced aging equipment and taken an active stance on the quality of public facilities so he was not expecting any major problems.

“This mayor and council has replaced a lot of equipment,” Hyberger said. “They've been real aggressive on capital funding for playgrounds.”

At the skate park, two of the structures were barricaded off from use until repairs to damaged surface areas can be completed, which could be a number of weeks. Deteriorated two-by-fours were also replaced.

On the fun box, two-by-fours and the surface sheet was repaired or replaced.

Hyberger said four of the structures at the skate park remain open for use, but are being checked daily. If they find the barricaded structures being used, they will close the park down until the repairs are made.

Hyberger said twice a year an audit is done with the insurance company to go over every piece of playground equipment and skate park structures. In between audits, Hyberger said city staff makes routine spot checks of the equipment.

The department also routinely responds to calls from the public regarding equipment, Hyberger said.

“A large part of what we do is respond to the public,” Hyberger said. “We get a lot of calls from the public.”

With a maintenance budget for outside facilities of $14,000, Hyberger said vandalism eats a good portion of those funds up. Especially when having to replace signs that cost $250 each.

He said it was frustrating to the department to always have to spend money replacing or fixing vandalized equipment instead of using the money for new projects.

Hyberger said, however, that he did not consider vandalism in Beatrice to be above normal and the city probably has about the same as any other city or community.

“We're probably no worse than any other community,” Hyberger said.